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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Ira Glass. On This American Life, one thing we like is a good mystery. Sometimes about really big things, but most times, the little mysteries are the best.
Our lost and found is currently filled with pants. I don't know what, I've never seen this happen.
Wait, this is true?
This is true. Mysteries of every size, each week. This American Life, wherever you get your podcasts.
You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey, short wavers. Regina Barber here. And Angela Zeng. With our biweekly science news roundup featuring Juana Summers of All Things Considered. You're super fun. I'm glad you're back. Glad to be back with y'all. Okay, so this week we've got a few mysteries unraveling. First up, an object in space that might be a planet or might be a failed star.
And what new observations about its clouds can reveal about it. Juana. Yes. Angela, if you could have a cloud made of anything, what would it be?
Oh.
I mean, I feel like my brain automatically goes to marshmallows, which I feel like might be a cop-out, but I'm also really hungry, so that might have something to do with this.
Marshmallows will not quench that hunger, though. But they taste really good. Yeah, that's true.
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Chapter 2: What mysterious object in space is being discussed?
Perfect.
Cotton candy is the first thing. But these clouds are none of those things.
Yeah, stay tuned. Our second and third topics are a lot closer to home, the exciting possibility of a sex-specific burial site of ancient human relatives, and what great apes' laughter can tell us about the evolution for human communication.
I don't have a fun question for this, though. And yet I'm still intrigued.
Okay.
We'll laugh a lot. That's all I can say. So today on the show, we've got mysteries across space and time. You're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.
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Chapter 3: What significant discovery was made about ancient human relatives?
What did scientists find out that's so interesting?
So in 2013, archaeologists discovered more than a thousand human-like fossils, so like bones and teeth, in the Rising Star cave system in South Africa. And one big thing jumped out. All the reconstructed skeletons looked oddly the same size. which surprised scientists because in most primate species, there's a clear difference in size between the sexes.
And this species, called Homo naledi, they lived a few hundred thousand years ago. They walked upright and they had human-like hands and feet, but their brains were much smaller than those of ancient humans.
Yeah, and if you look them up, they look very planet of the apes.
Okay, okay.
Anyway, a study out this week in the journal Cell may have solved the size mystery. An international team of researchers analyzed the teeth of 20 Homo naledi individuals spanning thousands of years to determine the sex.
All of the Homo naledi individuals that we looked at came back missing a male marker.
That's lead author and molecular scientist Paulessa Madupe. She says the chances are about one in a million that all 20 would be female. So the team thinks this could have been an intentional sex-specific burial practice.
Oh, interesting. So how big of a deal would that be if it's true? It could be a big deal because Homo naledi isn't in our direct lineage and burial practices are largely ascribed to humans. Although other animals do it like elephants and naked mole rats. Interesting. So how are others in the field reacting to these findings?
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